WBI Founders

Our 17 Year Record

From June 1997 until the present, the Namies have led the first and only U.S. organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying that combines help for individuals via our websites & over 10,000 consultations, telephone coaching, conducting & popularizing scientific research, authoring books, producing education DVDs, leading training for professionals-unions-employers, coordinating national legislative advocacy, and providing consulting solutions for organizations. We proudly helped create the U.S. Academy of Workplace Bullying, Mobbing & Abuse.

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Posts Tagged ‘lies’

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. George Orwell

There’s a level of refreshing level of candor about Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, from two ESPN employees — Keith Olbermann and Bill Simmons — rarely spoken today in mainstream media (and ESPN is certainly mainstream). It’s all the more remarkable when you learn that ESPN pays the NFL $15 billion to televise Monday Night Football. So, ESPN critics could be seen as biting the hand that feeds them, but these two pundits show tremendous courage in calling out the NFL mismanagement of its current domestic violence crisis.

Bill Simmons is the writer who started Grantland (an ESPN Internet Venture) and has been an ESPN superstar. For his calling Goodell a liar, he earned a 3 week suspension. The Simmons B.S. Podcast from which the audio came was pulled from the Grantland website by ESPN. Here is the audio that got him into trouble.

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Also brave were ESPN writers, Don Van Natta, Jr. and Keith Van Valkenburg, who wrote an extraordinary investigativeOutside the Lines article that revealed that Goodell and the Baltimore Ravens ownership colluded with Ray Rice’s attorney to cover up his domestic violence incident. Then, both Goodell and Ravens owner, Steve Bisciotti, lied about their knowledge of it. Very Nixonian of the NFL.

The OTL article title

Despite ESPN silencing Simmons and reportedly wordsmithing the OTL article with some deletions, many critics on the network are jabbing the NFL. Critics are the only ones who can hold institutions accountable.

Why do we not see the same drive to be candid from the Washington DC beltway political pundits? Their relationships with the “newsmakers” is way too cozy. Reporter would rather ingratiate themselves with the people they are paid to hold accountable. Kissing up and comfort prevent truthtelling. The result — America is in a new war while still fighting the old one with public support.

After all …

All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed. I.F. Stone

Bullied targets recognize lying. Lies about needing to save money are the governors’ (expect this to roll into other states near you, Wisconsin is just the beginning) rationale for eliminating the few remaining rights workers have. You non-union folks know that you have no rights to give up. Turns out that the newly elected Wisc governor inherited a surplus. There was no financial crisis in that state, says former co-chair of the state joint finance committee, state Rep. Marc Pocan.

In states where there are genuinely dire financial straits, the governors are blaming unions. Really? Why do we have such collective amnesia? How gullible is the American public? Remember the investors who ripped off the world and mortgage borrowers and allowed us saps to absorb the losses? And not one has gone to jail for it (read Matt Tiabi’s new article).

And so the pattern is repeated in every bullying scenario. Bullies cost the employer, corporate or government, tons of cash that the employer whines they cannot afford to spare. Yet, they keep the bully on payroll while the losses mount from undesirable turnover, absenteeism, presenteeism, workers’ comp, disability insurance, and a damaged reputation as the worst place to work. Bullies are too expensive to keep, but it’s about power and cozy relationships between executive sponsors and their favorite sons and daughters. It’s never about the money.